What goes on in my kitchen…

Pumpkin Pasties for Harry Potter

Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that the last Harry Potter movie is upon us. And I’m SOOO excited. I have recently read ALL the books, seen all the movies (multiple times) and now I am taking it a step above normal obsession: I am making the goodies that Harry and his pals enjoy. (I have a couple more to share this week, so stay tuned!)

I scoured the internet hoping to find some recipes from the Harry Potter Unofficial Cookbook, but sadly I found none. Maybe I just can’t navigate Google as well as I thought. And WHY I don’t own this book yet is beyond me, really. But I’m thinking it’s a necessity.

Moving on. The first treat I’m sharing are these pumpkin pasties which are essentially mini pumpkin hand pies. You can make these as spiced, small, and simple as you want. I’m a homemade gal so I made it all from scratch but you could easily use pre-made pie dough and canned pumpkin pie filling, if you’re in a pinch. No judgments here!

These are delicious and you can make the separate components and keep in the fridge until you are ready to assemble and bake. They are so good! I mean who says no to a mobile slice of pumpkin pie?? And if you are already looking forward to Thanksgiving, these can tide you over until then :) Win-win-win!!

Grab one of these pasties, your wand and run around pretend stunning your cat. Not that I would do anything like this…

Combine flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse to combine until resembles course crumbs. Add ice water in a steady stream until the dough comes together, you may not need the entire 1/4 cup. The dough should stick together when pinched. It shouldn’t take longer than 10 seconds.

Shape the dough into a flattened disc, wrap into plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. (The dough can be frozen for up to a month; thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs lightly. Stir in the pumpkin puree, heavy whipping cream, and light brown sugar, mixing between each addition. Add the spices and salt and stir to evenly distribute. Pour the filling into a buttered casserole dish and bake until a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean, about 30 – 40 minutes.

Take the disc of crust dough out of the refrigerator and roll it out onto your floured work surface until about 12″ in diameter. Roll from the center out and rotate your crust quarter turns occasionally to avoid sticking. Using a 4″ circle-shaped cookie cutter, cut out as many rounds as you can squeeze out of it and transfer each to wax paper or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. You can re-roll out your scrap dough to get more rounds, but be aware that over-worked dough can result in toughness. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Once the pumpkin pie filling has cooled completely, take the dough out of the refrigerator and drop about a tablespoon of the pumpkin filling into the center of each dough round. Using your finger or pastry brush, apply a thin coat of egg white to half of the edge of the round and fold the circle over and press the edges to seal. The egg white will help to keep the dough closed while baking. Crimp the edges with a fork to give a final seal. Set on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, and continue the same way with the rest of your dough rounds.

Lightly whisk together the egg yolk and cream. Brush the tops and edges of the pasties with a soft pastry brush and sprinkle on sugar (if using it). Use a knife to cut three slits in the tops of each pasty. If your dough has gotten considerably warm, refrigerate for about 30 minutes; if not, continue with the recipe. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Yields about 16 pasties, depending on the size of cookie cutter you use.

You do definitely need the cookbook! I bought it for my son last Christmas thinking it would be fun to try some of the recipes. So far they’ve all been winners. He loves Kreacher’s French Onion Soup and the Herby Roast Chicken with Onion Mashed Potatoes is now a staple in our house. Potter fan or not – they’re good recipes!